An Unexpected Visitor
by Googie
Summary: Contains some spoilers for 5-19 "The Lives of Others". There were a lot of spoilers floating around before the episode aired, and my mind went in one particular direction. I was totally wrong, but I still think this would have been a cool idea. The premise is kind of 'out there', so be forewarned.


**_I tried to get this uploaded before the "Lives of Others" episode aired, but oh, well...it didn't work. I had a strong suspicion that the episode would go a certain way, based on a couple of spoilers and my imagination. But alas, I was wrong. However, I'm posting this anyway, and I hope some people still find it enjoyable. So if for some reason you haven't seen this episode yet, this may contain some spoilers._**

**_Disclaimer: I, of course, own nothing._**

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He moved. He had to move; his muscles were cramped from sitting in the same position for a such a long time while he tried to get some writing done. Of course, cramped muscles were kind of a state of being these days, with his limited mobility. So he stretched what he could as his eyes began to wander around the room. He knew what he would see: the same walls, and the same furniture that he'd been seeing constantly for the last couple of weeks. He liked his loft, he really did. But it really lost its appeal when he was all but trapped there.

His eyes wandered to the kitchen and he absently wondered how long he'd be able to stand on one foot if he actually tried to cook something. But then he remembered that Kate said she'd be back soon, so maybe he wouldn't have to cook at all. Maybe he could just watch her putter around his kitchen. The thought of her, and of her being domestic in _his_ kitchen filled him with a certain amount of pleasure and he felt a smile beginning to form on his face.

But he did need something to drink—the pain pill that he'd taken a little while ago left a funny taste in his mouth—so he started the arduous process of raising himself off the couch while trying to maintain his balance on one leg and at the same time not letting his injured leg touch the ground. And even though he hated this new difficulty in moving around, he certainly _did_ like the fact that Kate was staying with him to help him through it, even though he was still smarting a bit since she didn't believe him about the murder he saw. Why didn't she believe him? How could she _not_ believe him?

"You know, Castle, I gotta say that it's about damn time that you and Beckett gave into this ... thing you've had. Glad you took my advice way back when and just kept showin' up." The voice let out a low chuckle.

Balanced precariously on one foot when he heard the familiar voice, Castle was still startled so badly that he all but toppled back onto the couch. He was alone! Or at least he thought he was alone. He righted himself enough in the corner of the couch as he took a few quick breaths and looked in the direction of the voice. "Geez, Captain, give me some warning before you give me heart failure, huh? And what do you mean about Beckett ..." He trailed off as he realized the first part of what he'd instinctively said, and his mouth gaped as he looked in front of him.

It couldn't be.

His mouth opened and closed a few times and he thought he must have looked like a fish, but for the shock he felt, he simply couldn't do anything else. Finally, he was able to form one word as he stared at the man who was standing casually in his living room.

"Captain?" he croaked.

Because right before him was Captain Montgomery.

Captain Montgomery?

He closed his eyes and rubbed them before opening them again. But nothing had changed, and the Captain was still, seemingly, right there. Even though he'd pretty much seen the Captain die almost two years before, had carried the man's casket at his funeral. So how ...

"Castle, you look like you've seen a ghost!" the Captain said seriously, then broke into a grin. "Damn, I just love usin' that line on people now."

"Uh..." was all Castle could manage to utter.

"Pick your jaw back up off the ground, Castle." The Captain chuckled again. "Come on, you're the king of the crazy theories. Tell me why I'm here."

"Uh..." Castle stammered again, his eyes still glued to the man in front of him. "I have a brain tumor? Or maybe cryogenics? Or ... uh ... reincarnation? A top-secret government reincarnation experiment?"

"All good theories, Castle." Castle thought he was going to explain more, but the Captain just walked around the living room and looked around. He stopped in front of the shelving units that separated the living room from the office. He put his hand on one of the shelves where a little knick-knack now sat. "Right here, Castle. This is where it should go."

Castle was still trying to come to grips with the fact that he was essentially having a conversation with a dead man. And dead man who was walking around his living room. "Uh ... where what should go?"

"That picture that you took of you and Kate at the top of the mountain. Right before that run where you tried to be a damn hot dog and busted up your knee. Blow that picture up and put it right here. 'Bout time you got some pictures of her around here."

"How did you ...?" Castle's jaw was down near the vicinity of the floor once again.

Roy merely dipped his head and raised one eyebrow at Castle.

"Okay. Uh, Captain? I have to say that I'm a little freaked out by this. It's not often that I get a visit from someone who's ..." he trailed off, unable to say the word.

"Dead? Yeah, I know. You can say it. Gotta tell it like it is. It's the truth, after all."

"Captain? About that ..." Castle was

"Castle, look...I'm dead, okay. Don't go there. I had a good run, and it all happened how it was meant to happen ... everything. Damn shame about Kate getting shot, but it all worked out for you two, huh?"

"Yeah." Castle still had that internal flinch whenever he thought about Kate getting shot, but then he thought about where they were now and he smiled.

"You don't hide it as well as you used to."

"Hide what?"

"Your feelings for Beckett. But then again, she doesn't hide hers nearly as well either these days."

"She ... yeah. We're together now, so that's good," Castle responded, trying to conjure up his cheerful facade. Even though, during all of this time alone, he was wondering just how 'together' they really were. He knew what his feelings were, and he'd told her, but he always wondered because she had never actually voiced anything remotely reciprocal to him. Sure, he could read her eyes, her body language. But he just wondered, in the privacy of his own mind, if he'd ever hear the words, or if he was just deluding himself.

"You're not. Give it some time," Roy said, drawing him away from his ruminations and back into their strange conversation.

"I'm not what? I'm not with Beckett?" Castle asked. He thought he must have missed some of the conversation when he was thinking about Beckett.

"You're not deluding yourself." As Castle's eyes got big when he realized that Roy had known what he was thinking, Roy continued talking. "Yeah, I know. Beckett's had her life turned upside down a couple of times. She couldn't do anything about one of them and it made her pretty cautious. But for the second one, which was _you_, she had some control. But you just kept showin' up, and she gave in when she couldn't deny how she felt about you anymore."

"It's been great ..."

"Yes, but you're wondering now. But it'll come, don't worry."

Castle looked at Roy quizzically. "What will come?"

"Castle, are you purposely being dense? She'll tell you how she feels; don't worry about that."

"Yeah, she already has, if the fact that she doesn't believe me about the murder is anything to go by," he said a bit petulantly. "I thought we worked so well together."

"Castle, don't worry about the murder."

Castle's eyes got big. "Hey!" he exclaimed, pointing at Roy. "You know...things. You knew about that picture I took of us on the mountain. _You_ know there was a murder, right? Well, yes you do! You just called it a murder! If it wasn't a murder, you wouldn't call it a murder. Especially you. You're a cop. So how do I convince Beckett and the guys? They think I'm imagining things. They think—"

"Castle!" the Captain said sharply. When Castle shut his mouth, Roy continued. "Just remember that things will work themselves out, but not always in the way you think they will. And things aren't always exactly what they appear at first. So just let them work themselves out, okay?"

"But what if—"

"Castle! You know, I told the boys a bit of truth once. Something I learned once a long time ago. There's just no upside to messing with something you can't explain. "

"But I can explain it!"

"No, you can't. You just think you can. But you'll find out what the murder is about—and it's not what you think—and the thing with Beckett will resolve itself too."

"How?" Castle wanted to know. "Give me something, Roy. If I can prove there was a murder, and I can solve it, then maybe Beckett..." he trailed off.

Roy leaned in close. "Castle, you solving the murder or not doesn't matter to Beckett. Trust me on that."

"But ..." He let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Castle," Roy continued, "you and Beckett will be fine. But I do have one piece of advice for you."

Now Castle leaned forward like he was a co-conspirator in an elaborate scheme. "I'm all ears. Tell me what I need to know."

"Down boy. All I'll say is that you let Beckett have her space. You didn't push. And you haven't been pushing. But a little push is maybe what Beckett needs right now."

"A push? How?"

"Don't let her run. Don't play it light, or let her play it light. It's serious between you, right?"

Castle shrugged, pretenses down. "I love her. I have for a while. But I guess you know that."

Roy nodded, obviously pleased with Castle's admission. "I know. But does she still know that?"

Castle confirmed it with a nod. "She knows."

"Uh uh. I asked you if she _still_ knows. You're wondering about her voicing her feelings to you, but have you told her lately? Just showing up is good, but trust me, Castle, sometimes it takes a little more."

"No, I ..." Castle looked a bit flummoxed. "I didn't ... I haven't said anything lately ... not like that, I mean. I didn't want to scare her off. It took her a year to come to grips with it the first time I said it."

"It wasn't all that, Castle. But she's ready now. She needs to hear it again from you, even though she doesn't know it. At first it's gonna freak her out, but it'll be okay. But you—"

"I just have to give her a push."

Roy gave him a nod and a wink when he was satisfied that Castle understood. "Now you got it, Castle." Castle got lost in thought, looking down at his hands as he digested what Roy said about Kate.

"I can do that. So what about the mur..." Castle trailed off as he looked up again.

And he saw nothing. No Roy. Just an empty loft. He sat all the way up and looked around, his head swiveling around as he surveyed the space. Nobody. He even uttered a tentative, "Roy?" but he wasn't really surprised when he got no response. And he slumped back into the cushions of the couch, thinking about one of the strangest conversations he'd ever had in his life. A conversation with a dead man.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He felt the pressure on his lips. He sensed the scent, _her_ scent, and he started to return the light kiss before he opened his eyes to find her smiling at him.

"Did I fall asleep?" he asked her.

She smiled. "Looks that way. Any good dreams?"

Just then, the memory of Roy's visit popped into his head and his eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh, Beckett! I ... he was here!"

"Who was here?"

"Roy! Montgomery! He was here!" He paused while he nodded excitedly. "Yeah! We talked, and he told ... me ... that..." All of a sudden, he didn't know quite how to put it, since a lot of their conversation centered on her, and he didn't exactly feel like divulging that. But he didn't need to worry, because she was looking at him tenderly, with just a bit of amusement after she got over the shock of him mentioning Montgomery. "What?"

She leaned in and gave him another kiss as she touched his cheek. "You were really sleeping soundly, weren't you? You didn't even hear me when I came in. I sat here and was touching your face, but you didn't wake up until I kissed you. Like sleeping beauty. But in a bathrobe and with messed up hair." She smiled and gave him another kiss.

She thought he dreamed Roy being here. But he didn't. He knew he didn't. Did he? How could he have dreamed the whole thing?

"No, he was here. He ... talked to me," he reasoned. He looked at her so sweetly. "He told me he was glad that we were together." He felt safe telling her that much.

"That's sweet, Castle. But Roy's gone, for almost two years now. You just had a strange dream. A _very_ strange dream."

"I ... wow." He shook his head a little bit. "Roy was here. It was so real," he said, the astonishment seeping into his voice.

"Some dreams are, especially when you have the good drugs. Believe me, I know. After I was shot, there were a couple of times when I dreamed I was Elektra, wielding my bladed sai."

He blinked at her, momentarily taken aback as the fantasy image entered his mind. "Well, if you ever want to make that dream into reality, I wouldn't object. I promise to give you a fair critique," he quipped with a salacious grin.

"Oh, I'm sure you would."

Then his face fell. "Kate, I know with the Jordan thing and now this ... I mean, I'm sane and everything. I just have this imagination, and I know that with the whole murder thing, you're wondering about my sanity, but really, I'm okay. I'm just ... it's ..."

"Don't worry, Castle. It's okay if you have some wild dreams sometimes. It could be kind of entertaining, as long as they don't involve anything that could be construed as a woman's name." She smiled at him as she bent down and gave him a quick kiss.

But he looked back at her with worried eyes. "It won't bug you? Like I'm going all narcoleptic delusional on you?"

She rolled her eyes at his 'diagnosis'. "Don't worry, Castle. Even if you have a strange dream every night, I'll still love you anyway."

He froze.

She froze.

He wasn't sure at first that he'd heard the words correctly, but he knew he had when he saw her eyes widen in surprise and the smile drop off her face. Those words actually coming out of her mouth obviously surprised her as much as they did him. He'd been waiting to hear them for so long, and now they were out there and he almost just wanted to sit back and savor them and let Kate squirm a little bit. She was so adorable when she squirmed. But thoughts of what his visitor had said jumped into his mind, specifically the part that he didn't tell Kate about, and he acted on the advice that he'd heard.

Before she could retreat and try to figure out some damage control, because he knew instinctively that she would, he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her back to him for another kiss, this time one that lingered just a bit longer. When he pulled away, he looked her in the eyes and told her confidently, "Good. Because I love you too." He let the words sink in for a moment, and when he could feel her relax, he let his hand slip off her neck and down to grasp her hand. She was still looking a little bit shell-shocked, and like she wanted to run away as fast as she could, so he continued, "And I'm not just saying that because I want to see what you look like as Elektra."

For added effect, he waggled one eyebrow at her.

"You don't know what I can do with my bladed sai," she told him sassily.

"Oh, but I can't wait to find out. And if you really do have an Elektra costume, I _so_ want a picture of you," he mused with a bright look in his eyes.

"I'll just bet you do." And then she had a thought. "And hey, speaking of pictures, when did you get that one printed? Did you have Alexis do it for you?"

He pulled back a bit, puzzled at her question. "What picture?"

She turned around and pointed toward one of the shelves. "The picture that you took of us when we were skiing. It did end up being a good picture."

He followed where her finger was pointing and almost gaped when he saw the photo there, sitting on his shelf. It was an enlargement of the photo that he had snapped of himself and Kate at the top of the mountain, just before he broke his kneecap. Just before he was trying to hot dog down the hill. Just as Captain Montgomery had said, and it was sitting right where Captain Montgomery said it should be.

The Captain Montgomery of his supposed hallucination.

Except...Castle knew didn't print that picture. He never even sent it to anyone. It was still only on his phone.

So how could it be there now? And framed, no less? Where had it come from?

It was strange how with as eerie as the thought was, a calm settled over him at the thought of where the picture must have come from. At the memory of the conversation that he'd had with a dead man.

So he suddenly knew what to say, and he responded in the only way that he could. "Do you like it? I thought it was time that there was a picture of you around here. I like to have some photos around of the people I love. Makes it seem more like home, you know?"

The implication was clear. It was a small push, but it was a push nonetheless.

And he knew it hit its mark when she snuggled against him and asked softly, "Can you get me a copy for my place too?"

He responded with a simple, "Sure." And then as he held her and pressed a kiss to her hair, he tilted his eyes upward and mouthed, "Thanks, Roy."

* * *

**_I haven't written anything in a long time, so it was quite a test for me to sit down to write this. It's different, and it's a bit sappy, but I at least hope it was enjoyable. If you got this far, thanks for reading. :)_**


End file.
